I had about 60 days clean and was meeting my sponsor at a meeting. We met in the parking lot for fellowship before the meeting. On the way into the meeting, I saw a penny on the ground and pointed it out to my sponsor. He told me to pick it up and I asked him why. He said there was a message for me on it. I picked it up and he told me to read out loud what it said on the front of the penny. I did as he said and I read out loud “In God we trust.” My sponsor said, “There you go; now every time you see a penny, you need to pick it up and say ‘In God we trust’ out loud. This will help you reset your thinking and remember who’s really in charge.”
I have stuck to this suggestion for over 25 years now, and I never walk by a penny without picking it up and saying “In God we trust” out loud. I have done this in any situation, which sometimes involved me saying “In God we trust” in front of everyone from store clerks to my grandkids. I tell them this story whenever they ask. I told some of my sponsees about this way of connecting to my H.P. and some of them have started to do it too.
One Tuesday evening on the way to my home group, I saw a penny and went through my routine. A few steps later there was another penny, and a few steps later there was another and then yet another. Each time I would bend down, pick up the penny and say out loud “In God we trust.” As I was picking up penny #10, I heard some laughing from inside the meeting. I looked up and there were several of my home group members looking out the window. They had put the pennies in the parking lot as a joke, knowing I would pick them up. I laughed, but for a different reason. You see, I made 10 cents and trusted God 10 times at their expense!
